Google opens artificial intelligence centre in China as competition heats up

BEIJING (AFP) - Google announced on Wednesday (Dec 13) that it will open a new artificial intelligence research centre in Beijing, tapping China's talent pool in the promising technology despite the US search giant's exclusion from the country's internet. Artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, has been an area of intense focus for American tech stalwarts Google, Microsoft and Facebook, and their Chinese competitors Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu as they bid to master what many consider is the future of computing. AI research has the potential to boost developments in self-driving cars and automated factories, translation products and facial recognition software, among others. Google's move to open a Beijing office focused on fundamental research is an indication of China's AI talent, widely seen as being neck-and-neck with the United States in research capability. "Chinese authors contributed 43 per cent of all content in the top 100 AI journals in 2015," Li Feifei, a researcher leading the new centre, wrote in a blog post on Google's website.